The Backup System automatically removes the record of a dump set from the Backup Database when the tape containing the dump set is overwritten. The bak deletedump command can be used to manually remove information about a dump set from the Backup Database. It can be used to remove the record of a dump set that contains incorrect information (possibly because a dump operation was interrupted or failed) or for which the corresponding tape is to be discarded. Before issuing the bak deletedump command, use the bak dumpinfo command to display the current dump IDs from the database.
After you use the bak deletedump command to delete the record of a dump set from the Backup Database, any dumps for which it serves as the parent, either directly or indirectly, are unusable. You can reissue the bak deletedump command to delete those dump sets from the database. However, leaving them in the database, while possibly confusing, causes no problems. Also, as long as the tape that contains the parent dump set remains available, you can always use the bak scantape command to restore dump set information about the parent from that tape to the database, making the dump sets that rely on the parent dump set usable again. (See Recovering Specific Backup Data for more information about the bak scantape command.)
To delete backup information from the Backup Database, do the following:
1. Verify that you are included in the appropriate administrative lists. If necessary, issue the bos lsadmin command to check.
2. Optional. At this point, you can issue the bak command at the system prompt to enter interactive mode. (See Using the Interactive Interface for the advantages of interactive mode.) The commands in the following steps assume that regular command mode is used, not interactive mode.
3. Issue the bak dumpinfo command to list information, including dump IDs, about dump sets recorded in the Backup Database. A dump set's dump ID is required to delete it from the Backup Database.
$ bak dumpinfo [{-ndumps number | -id dumpID}] [-verbose]
The -ndumps number option specifies the number of dumps about which information is to be displayed; information about the most recent -ndumps is displayed. Use this option or use the -id option; omit both options to list information about the last 10 dumps.
The -id dumpID option specifies the unique dump ID number of a specific dump about which information is to be displayed. Use this option or use the -ndumps option; omit both options to list information about the last 10 dumps.
The -verbose option includes a detailed list of information about the dump specified with the -id option. The -verbose option can be used only with the -id option.
4. Issue the bak deletedump command to delete the desired dump set:
$ bak deletedump -id dumpID
The -id dumpID option specifies the dump ID number of the dump set whose entry is to be deleted from the Backup Database.